GBPUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, GBP fell 0.45% against the USD and closed at 1.5699, following the release of the Bank of England’s May meeting minutes and after retail sales in the UK fell at their fastest monthly pace since January 2010,
In the UK, retail sales declined fell 2.3% (MoM) in April, compared to 0.8% decline expected by markets. On an annual basis, retail sales fell 1.1% in April, against market expectations for a 1.0% growth and compared to a revised rise of 3.1% in March. Additionally, CBI trends total orders fell to -17 in May, against the market expectation of -11 and compared to the reading of -8 in April.
Meanwhile, minutes of the Bank of England (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee stated that the decision to pause stimulus at £325 billion was a “finely balanced” with a majority vote of 8 against 1. The Governor, Mervyn King, and seven other members voted to maintain quantitative easing unchanged, while David Miles sought a £25 billion increase to a total of £350 billion. Meanwhile, all nine members voted to hold the interest rate at a record low 0.50%.
In the Asian session, at GMT0300, the pair is trading at 1.5689, with the GBP trading 0.06% lower from yesterday’s close.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.5654, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.5619. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.5746, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.5803.
Trading trends in the pair today are expected to be determined by the release of gross domestic product (GDP) and total business investment data in the UK.
The currency pair is trading below its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
